Industrial assembly plants must stock a multitude parts to be used during the assembly process. These parts must be identified and cataloged for storage and retrieval of the parts. Typical known methods for marking the parts on the shop floor incorporate using many manual tools and processes. For example, air pencils are used to etch identification numbers in metal tags that are attached to a part, or a rubber stencil or electrical type writer is used to print information on labels that are affixed to a part. Typically, a worker would manually receive a work order and a part, then have to manually read the identification information from the work order. The worker would then have to manually transfer the identification information to a specified type of tag, e.g. metal, paper, plastic, or synthetic, using the appropriate marking device such as the air pencil, typewriter, or rubber stencil. Finally, the worker would attach or affix the identification tag or label to the part. This method is laborious and time consuming, and prone to typographical errors. Additionally, correcting such errors is even more laborious and time consuming.
Therefore, it would be desirable to identify and catalog parts utilizing an automated parts labeling system that utilizes a computer to interface to several peripheral devices such as a printer, a metal tag machine, an ink jet marking machine and a bar code reader.